Here's a 2015-16 version with high periods in orange and red: basically, avoid Feb 6 - Mar 5 and especially Feb 13-27. I notice that they don't include Austria, maybe because its nine regions stagger their school holidays.http://www.lastationdeski.com/date/fr-c ... urope.html

I appreciate that link. I tried a month or so ago to find a 2016 version of the other one, with no success.

jamesdeluxe wrote:I notice that they don't include Austria, maybe because its nine regions stagger their school holidays.

Austria's population is small. German holidays are likely what matter in Austria. The German holidays vary by region. My link from last year showed which regions had which weeks, but the new link does not. 8 of the 10 weeks between Jan. 30 and April 16 have someone off in Germany. I read somewhere that Bavaria and a few other places in Europe have Mardi Gras week (Feb. 6-13 next year) off and that in general that's one to avoid, especially if it coincides with the British or French holidays.

Much of my destination trip calendar for 2016 is fairly set already. The only chance to go to Europe would be late March/early April, and in that time frame Val d'Isere (which is at the top of my not-yet-skied list anyway) would seem the obvious choice. It certainly would have worked well this year: http://www.epicski.com/t/134457/a-12-ye ... rench-alps

15% of Germany plus a few Poles and Czechs should not be a big deal that week. Really, the 3rd week of February with the Brits and 2/3 of French is the only one that probably approaches the madness of Christmas. Our Zermatt trip in 2014 was 2nd week of February and we did not have any crowd issues.

In terms of crowds, there are probably certain resorts that draw certain nationalities. I'm sure James knows more about that than I do. If you're truly crowd-phobic James and I have working on the Google Earth map in the Alps for close to a month and the list of under-the-radar places seems endless.

Thanks for adding this year's calendar, Tony. I have a hotel booked in Verbier for March 5-10, which looks like it should be pretty ideal crowd-wise. Only potential issue I see is non-North faces being in the awkward transition to spring snow--do you know how much of the best terrain faces north in Verbier?

The best terrain off Mont Fort and Mont Gele is both high and north facing. The runs down to the resort face west; you can expect spring conditions down there from altitude,exposure and traffic. I only had one ski day there, barely scratched the surface. You will want a guide some of the time, as I've heard there's a lot of off-piste routes ranging far beyond resort boundaries.

You may also have heard that the first half of November has been spectacularly snowy across the northern Alps. I think Verbier opened early. There's also a good base at our January destination in Lech.

For those who haven't been watching, the recent storm in the western Alps dropped an insane amount of snow at altitude, which was confirmed on the Weather to Ski site. From two meters in France's Maurienne region to as much as three meters (ten feet) across the border in Italy's Piedmont.